GILL- welcome hun...good to hear you have found the site. Everyone here has some woonderful info and stories to tell...let me know what youo would like to post on the update list x x Have posted some stuff feel free to let me know what to add or take away. x xx

carolyn- thank you so much for posting the info on donor conception site...i found reading Rachels story on DE very interesting reading. very helpful. Discussing when to tell the child does help Dh and i sppoke about 3-4 yrs pre school.Your early life history (although a traumatic discoverry) will stand you in good stead for telling your child about ED. And yes it will work ...see pixie post at the end off theis post My cycles and postings on this forum started july 2005, nov 2005, june 2006, so you are right we missed cycles together. As for acu i want it for stress release and MS as well as for the tmt cycle so will be going every week. I usually have kinesiology every 8 wks, physio 6-8 wks and cranial sacral therapy every week. So the acu will take over from the cranial sacral therapy. Have fun clearing out the study, ours still has mega cardboard boxs in in rom moving in 6 months ago!!!! Just keep the door closed most of the time... and then have a mad clear out. we will get there in time.

jen1 d- Hows the head today? did the paracetemol help??? It's ok to use as imy cinic prescribed it at my last tmt. Not longto go Hun soon be time 'push those pessaries' ...just a thought they are vaginal arn't they???? I now in US they sometimes use the other.

Babyblue- H hun...is Prometrium a shot or a pessary ? and how long do you take it for? Amazing the differances in tmt. At least you feel that you are ding something towards tmt with the shots. wonder when i start the bc pills and patches if i will feel the same. suppose it's all about focusing on taking each drug positively (be it pill or shot) as a way forward to ET. IVF/DE DUE DATE: as for the due date take 2 wks before transfer (ET 24th OCT) = 10th OCT: then count back 3 months= July 10th :then add on 7 days = due date 17th July 2008. Hope that helps hun. You will havea summer baby. x x As for tmt under insurance becsaue of my MS i am unable to get health insurance ( well i an but it excludes MS and is very expensive to pay for) I managed to have 2 cycles of tmt on the NHS ( national health service that i didn't pay for unfortunatly BFN's)

Rebecca- How are you doing- your last pot is too far back to read but if i remember correctly you/ your sis have a scan on Monday and hopefull EC. much love to ya hun x x

poochie- again your last post was to far back to read. how are you doinghun? I understand about your sperm stuff now. Didn't know your hubby had gone through hell? Is he in remission now? Much love to ya x x

Thanks to AMcK (Anna) ( "oh Wise one") for all her input, support and help with Donor Egg info. Anna had a BFP @ 2nd transfer at IM...Baby Matthew is now 5 months old...

BFP's For all

Please add your own updates by clicking on the QUOTE button at the top of the post, add your info, delete the [quote jen babes] at beginning and end of the post, then press submit...easy peasy!!!!good luck x x

So my headache finally went about 8-9pm last night---boy was it bad Today i feel fine so IM must have been correct when they said my body would get use to the patches fast. Anna told me yesterday that after you start the patches its normally about 10 days later that ET happens so this might mean we will be flying off around the 20th?? Seem so close and i'm dreading the 2ww but i have decided to stay off for the first week then go back for the second and just be very careful. It will be hard this time as nobody knows we are doing this cycle so i will have to avoid any kick offs with the yp and try to encourage the other staff to deal with it----bet someone notices Dont know about EC or when it will be but after my scan on Wed (11am) i will email the clinic and ask for info. We desperately want embies to freeze so i hope our lovely ed has a couple spare for me-------i'm sounding greedy now eh.

I'm off to work so wil catch up with reading about the questions soon, its sounds like your answers will help me along this path, thanks

JenB- Thanks so much for the welcome and for adding me to the list . I hope you are feeling better after your bug.
I have been reading through the thread, wow you have been through a lot , you are such a strong and brave lady I dont know how you've managed to cope with everything you've been through. I have found what everybody has written to be really helpful as I have been finding it a bit difficult with the double donor situation.

Carolyn- Thanks for the welcome , it took me a while but I got here in the end . The same goes for you as I said to Jen, you are a strong and brave lady too, I dont know how you cope with everything and then this IVF on top! I havent been on the donor conception site yet but I will as soon as I can It sounds really interesting.

Jen1- How are the hedaches? When I was on the patches they gave me hedaches for the first day or so but then they seemed to get better. When I put fresh ones on I would get more, but they did get less painfull, at least the pessaries are used up front and not up back , but I cant say they were very pleasant either way I havent told work about this cycle either, I am off the first two weeks in september so I am hoping et will be then and they wont have to know. I cant believe how long you have untill et!! It will be here in no time, I bet you are so excited. Have you found out any information on the donor yet?

Anna- You helped me right back in the beginning when I was just starting out on this journey , you were a big help and the information you gave made it much easier. Thank you so much, hope Matthew is well.

Hi to Babyblue, Poochie, Rebecca and everyone else on this thread.

I am not quite sure how I am feeling about using donor eggs and sperm on this cycle, its all been a bit sudden. Dh is absolutely fine about it as he never knew his biological father, he died in a work accident a few weeks before he was born. His stepfather has always been his dad. I think that not knowing his real dad has shown that it doesn't make much difference as long as you are loved and his stepdad has loved dh and is brother as if they were his own. Dh has been fantastic. But I feel a bit guilty having a child that will not be able to trace their genetic parents, I am being selfish?
I have the most stupid things going through my mind like, if it works and we have a baby what will we put on the birth certificate? We have only told close family about the egg donation and only dh, my mum and my sister know about the donor sperm, we feel people just dont need to know, we just say IVF to everybody else.

Is there anybody else on this thread using both donor egg and sperm? It would be interesting to know how other people feel about it.

Hello
Rebecca – Good number of follies, good luck for you and sister on Monday. Peoples reactions especially your family is hard; my grandmother can’t get her head round it at all and thinks I should be grateful for what I got.

Jen1 _ Good luck with scan, ET will be here before you know it. I know what you mean about coming to terms with DE some days I 100% sure but other day I feel I should go one more time with my eggs. I too have deteriorating slow dividing eggs for my age and find it hard to come to terms with it all some times. Glad your headaches have gone. I worry sometimes about baby not looking like me and how I would feel when someone says he/she does/does not look like you, but I guess these are just normal feelings most of us will be feeling. I too want some embies to freeze you are not being greedy but security right now is what we all need. I said to Dh I wanted embies to freeze and I wanted to use then all regardless of outcome and it we were fortunate to have end up with many children then so be it.

Kim – Think Jen and Carolyn both kindly answered your query regarding IVI and HH with are my two hospitals for DE treatment. Unfortunately does not work that way for us would regarding insurance. If we have health insurance it certainly does not cover IVF.

Anna – Thanks again for all your wise words, May I ask was Mathew from fresh or frozen cycle? I’m panicking a little as Dh and I only got three tubes of sperm left and once they’ve gone game over for us, so I hoping for some snow babies if my first go is unfortunate not to work.

Jenb- My daughter would love your doggy! She loves Scobby Doo it’s her favourite show she has a real crush on Fred but only the Fred from the old Scooby Doo shows she likes the ones that I watched when I was young and Fred wears an orange scarf. If he is not wearing his scarf we have to turn it off. It’s her first real crush. One day Dh pretended Fred was at the door and when she realised he was not there the burst into tears my DH felt do bad, bless. Sorry you still feeling bit yucky, get better soon honey. Dh been in remission for 6 years but because of history of relapsing hospital want 10 year before they feel sure.

Gill – Welcome and good luck with treatment, the whole donor issues so hard to deal with.

Carolyn – Would love to be your cycle buddy, was told by Trew waiting list 3 to 6 months but not sure when that starts from, DH Greek so hoping the whole Mediterranean link will help us . Your experience will help you when the time is right to sit down and tell the child/children ( I have faith in you) the journey you and dh went on to get him/her/them. (look at that PMA)

Gill – yes I think DH not knowing his Biological father probably does help him understand and come to terms with DE as my Dh is same boat being adopted.

Got to change my patch tonight and am dreading the headache that might follow. Will just load up with water and hope that helps.

The accu lady has not returned my email for Barcelona, will have to hassle her tomorrow and then try to find out directions etc.

So the next drama that lovely man upstairs has set for me is that the hotel we used last time seems to be fully booked. Just seems to be one prob after another, him upstairs must hate me. Anyway on the Easyjet hotel site they recommend other hotels close and one looks ok, plus its £30 cheaper so will probably go with that one. Would have just been easier to go to the one we know but anyway, gives us another adventure.

Ok better get back to work, hope you all having a good weekend.

Love Jen x

P.S. - Gill and Carolyn - sorry you have to read some stuff twice but its easier to copy and paste---gives me more time to study--yuck

I need to get some work done today (management mtg tomorrow at the client that I am working with and not pulled all the numbers together yet ) but thought that it would be rude of me not to pop on here first.

Vicki - it is great that your dh has now been in remission for 6 years. Can understand them saying wait 10 years to be sure but the fact that he has gone through the 5 year barrier must be a huge comfort for you both. I hope that my experience will help and I am sure that your dh being adopted will help you two. I have a great relationship with my Mum's dh and have always called him 'Dad'. When I was a teenager then I always thought that I would want to go and search out my genetic father. Now I could not care less. He showed no respect to my Mum so why do I need to find him. It is just a bit of genetic material. Her dh brought me up as his own and I would never wish to hurt his feelings. My real dad did nothing other than get my Mum pregnant and then do a runner! I feel just the same. Most days I am 100% sure that this is what I want and then I wobble & think that this is crazy stuff. I don't think much about another cycle with my own eggs as 4 tries and no success at all. It is almost a relief that I will not have to use my own eggs. But your eggs have given you your dear daughter and also worked last time although sadly not in the right place. It must be very hard for you to make the choice not to cycle again with your own eggs. Mr Trew told us 6 months at IVI. That is one of the reasons that we looked at IM instead as we hoped that it might be a little quicker. Can see 4-2 approaching and already know that I will no doubt be the oldest Mum at the school gates. How many tries will the 3 tubes of dh's swimmers allow you?

Rebecca - very best of luck for tomorrow hun. I hope that it is a wonderful day for you & your sister. What a terrific thing that she is doing for you. Look forward to hearing how many eggs you get tomorrow. Crossing everything for you

Jen1d - hope that AF is now here and that you are getting used to the patches. Not looking forward to that bit at all after what you have been through! Not long now til your scan or your ET. Hope that you are going to have a great lining ready for the embies to snuggle in. Will you e-mail IM at any stage to see how she is doing on stimmies??? Think that you and I were posting at the same time and just seen that you have had to change patch - hope ok - and change hotel. Well £30 cheaper - all helps. Cannot believe that you are getting ready for the 'real' visit. So exciting for you

Gill - My way of dealing is to do loads of research. Found a site yesterday where you can look at the probability of different eye colours. Given your parents and grand parents. My Mum has blue eyes and both her parents were brown. It can come from grandparents instead so that was helping me deal with if the babies eyes are a different colour to me and dh - we will just say it is from the grandparents. Sounds like your dh's experience is very similiar to mine. I was brought up by my Mum's dh and always thought of him as my Dad. This will help a lot when you come to talk to the child and explain things. It is hard for us though to know that it will not be our genetic child but we will carry it and nurture it. I also wonder if I am being selfish - at my age too. But think of it like this. The wonderful ladies who are being each of our donor - they have loads of eggs and if we were not to gratefully receieve then the child would never be created and the chance of life would never exist

Anna - seems you have helped all of us. I mailed with you months ago on a thread on the Donor board about costs of IM and you very kindly let me know details. That was before I even did the last fresh cycle as I was already losing confidence in my own eggs. Would it be rude to ask you if you have any idea why the 2nd cycle at IM worked although the 1st one did not. Different donor? Did you feel that you did anything different?

Kim - hope that you are having a nice weekend

JB - last but not least. Our list supervisor!!! Hope that you are having a relaxing weekend. I had a good go at our study yesterday. Lots of throwing away and shredding which I find quite relaxing. It is great that you will be having acu once a week. Hope that it is helpful for you. When I started over a year ago at the beginning he saw me every week to try and get me on an even keel with stress, the sarcoidosis and also after the 1st cycle failed. I found it so helpful and hope that you do too. I have certainly been less stressed since I started having it on a regular basis. Hope that you like the lady. Let us know

Carolyn - You stalking me today Your research is brilliant, thanks for the info, let me know what book you think is best to get.

Rebecca - Good luck for tomorrow

So we have checked out the hotels in Bg B from the fab map we got from our visit last time as it shows all the hotels on it. Anyway we have found a nicer one and its right on the clinic doorstep plus you can sit outside in the sun, i would prefer that than being stuck in the hotel room after ET. IM girls, if you want info just let me know.

Carolyn- Yes, I definitely think dh experience will help us. Dh has always thought of his stepdad as his dad and he loves him very much.
We told the IM at our first appointment that we were not bothered about hair/eye colour of the donor as long she was a great donor we were not bothered.Knowing that eye colour can be passed from the grandparents is very good to know, we were told when we did our first egg donation cycle that as we both have blue eyes we could never have a baby with brown eyes naturally! Just goes to show!! I should have done reaserch too. If we do get a bfp this time and the baby has brown eyes I can say that they came from grandparents and I wont be lying!

Jen1- Hope the studying is going well but I thought you were on holiday! Have you booked the new hotel yet? Please let me know what its called so I can have a look, It sounds better than the other one and if we are there 2-3 days it would be nice to be able to sit outside sometimes . Hope the change of patch goes well and you dont get any more headaches. Is your scan on wednesday? Not long now

Vicky- This will be our third go at egg donation and first with sperm donation and Im still wondering if Im doing the right thing! But one thing I am sure about is that if/when it does work and we get a bfp there will no longer be any doubts.

Rebecca- Good luck for you and your sister tomorrow. I will be thinking of you. x

JenB- Are you feeling any better?I hope you are and that you are taking it easy.x

Hi to everyone else, hope you have had a lovely weekend.
Only 3 more pills to take!!! Not sure how long it will take af to show herself as I havent been on bc pills for a very long time. But as soon as she does I can slap a patch on and then, oh my god

hi all, thanks for all the well wishes, this is just a short post as we leave for the clinic in a while. Very nervous and very emotional but sis is doing great and taking it all in her stride. Last count 18 follies, all 18 - 20 mm; if all goes well ET will be on Saturday - it's finally all happening!!

rebecca- been thinkingof you all day hun...hope collection went wellfor your sis and she is resting up. May you have got a basket full of eggies that are beign 'seen' to by your DH's spermies as we speak. Bet it was a very emotional day for ou all., Much love to ya Rebecca post when you can x xx

Caroline- You are doing fab at the research hun. Good luck with the reading...Hope the management meeting went ok especially with all your hard work yesterday. much love x x

Poochie- aw your DD sounds a cracker LOVED the Fred remarks!!! Funny ass i was brought up with the same ones and find the new ones not ass good...as for scrappy doo don't get me started!!!! Took our neices and nephews to the Theatre Scooby Doo that wass on over the summer. The guy in th scooby costume was quite good but still looked vERY much like a man in a dog scostume...nephew wass NOT amused as he wanted the real, Scooby doo!!!! Can't believe your hubby broke her heart by saying Fred was at the front door sounds like he paid the price tho feeling so bad after eh!!!! I had a crush on the 6 million dollar man at 7 yrs old . Kids eh!!!great to hear that DH has been in remission for 6 yrs.As i know to well every yer is a miles stone and hopefully a step away from the past. It's been such a hard road for you all as a family...this BFP will be the icing on the cake of happiness for you all x x

Gill it must be hard to have gone through 2 De cycles and now DE and DS ...no i do not think you are selfish not knowing biological parents...this baby( or babies) will be wanted loved and cared for. As for the birth certificate...as far as i know both your names are put on it and you tell the child about the ferlilisation...when you are ready to ... It can be kinda hard to get your head around as we are really the 1st generation ( on mass scale) to get this chance and choice of a miracle. I just think if i didn't do this i would regret it...if it works ( and i am praying with tons of PMA everyday that it does )..then it's such as Blessing and our child will know that...I know for you it is doubly difficult (((HUGS)))...but know that everything will become more balanced in your head when you get a BFP!!!! Only 2 more days of pill taking and then patches. Have you got any stimming news on ED???? Also hope that AF comes soon after stopping pill. I too haven't taken it for so long am wondering if AF will behave herself after and come on time? x x

jen-1d hope your head was better today even with the new patches?? let us know how it goes. What hotel did you book? DH and i looked at Husa cause it looked ore comfortable for ET but if yours has a balcony to sit and relax in sun/shade than that would be better. As long as it's near IM and Acu i don't care. Hope you get a confirmed date soon for ET. x x

Kim- have you heard from your clinic yet about starting drugs ? i know you said September ( i hope to be joining you too then on pills) but any date ? Did you understand the due date thing i posted last time???

Doing better today ut still knocked off my feet a bit...taking time to get over this bug ( think i got it from the plane as DH had same symptoms same time) Have the 1st have of the week off ( managed to move clients about) so got my hair done today and slept 4 hrs after Body obviously needs it. I came off all MS meds 6wks ago so was told to expect a slight dip or relapse so am looking after myself. Got to if i want to be a MUM x x I am still onprogesterone meds until day 26 of cycle then hope af comes.

JenB - the hotel is called Husa Arenas, looks better and clolse to IM. Glad your bug is going.

Rebecca - How was EC, hope all is well, looking forward to hearing about our tonnes of eggies

Carolyn - Hows all the reading going. Are you feeling a bit better, worried about your babe. Have emailed ((hugs)).

Gill - There is only so muchd the head can take with all the stress of this ivf. Ther are so many questions and stress. I have managed to move on a bit from thinking aobut 'not being mine' but i will always yearn for my own child and wonder what it would look like. What if i get an ugly donor lol-------can we send it back---only joking. Keep your chin up babe, i;m sure when we see the two blue lines, all will be forgotten.

Poochie - Wow you have been through so much stress with dh and now this. Hope so much that you have a brilliant happy ending, you deserve it.

Kim - Did you manage to find out about the due date?

Anna - How you and Matthew doing? When you emailed about the results of your scan, is this when IM told you about EC and ET. What info did they give you about the donor and eggs. Thank, your a great help to us all.

Well i had a weird dream last night, dont know where i was, it looked like an airport holding shed where the planes go, anyway i went to see a nurse and she saw a beanie on the scan------boy i hope this dream comes true We have our counselling tomorrow then scan on Wed. We changed the time form 11am to 9am, then we can get home, email IM and find out all the info about EC and ET. Cant believe its nearly here, just feels so strange, it doesnt seem real and has come round so fast.
We organised the money today for the clinic, will have to take a letter with us for the flight or they will think we have robbed the nearest bank

Really quickie as only just finished work and is 20 to 10. Shattered and need to get something to eat and then crash out. Just had tons of meetings today.

Rebecca - thought of you today. Sounds like your sister has done amazingly for you. Hoping that all is going to go really well for you both

Jen1d - Thanks for the mail. Cannot believe that you are so dam close now. Getting really excited - so hope that the dream is going to come true. Hope scan on Wednesday will show that all is well ready for the embies to come home

JB - glad that you are feeling a little better. Hope that your hair looks good. I need to colour mine about every 3 weeks or the grey shows throiugh to badly!! Take good care and make sure that you recover properly. Management mtg went fine - thank you - just went on for ages. They always do! Prep yesterday paid off.

Gill - it is hard, very hard. I had a big wobble on way to work this morning. May be it was just a Monday thing but was in tears that the child will not be like me. Worry less about physical characteristics (like you will probably tell Big B not to worry about eyes/hair etc) but would love a little person to inherit things from me and my Mum. But not going to happen. I am very lucky to have the chance. Need to focus on +ves rather than -ves

Hugs to everyone else.

Books not here yet but 1 has been dispatched and hopefully will be here by the end of the week. Will be letting you all know what I find out!

Off to grab food (I know, I know I should not be eating this late). Just wanted to stop by for Rebecca and see if there was news.

What a lovely day the sun is out the sky is blue...so much more differant than grey drab yesterday.

Jen1d- yep it's the same hotel that DH and i went into and were shown a look around one of the bedrooms. we wanted to find a hotel that had better light in the room ( bigger windows) and better air con if i wass staying there for day after ET. It looks lovely and the resturant too. Hope you get news from donor soon regarding EC. Sorry hun but i had a laugh at -ugly donor - remark...LOL...I am sure that your little one will be a stunner. Clink on to photo bucket and look at Anna's Matthew. He is a wee cracker and i hope that will help ease your worries. Hope your dream comes true about the embies x x ( but not in the airport holding shed lol)

Gill- has the acu lady got back toyou yet??? I am waiting until near the time before emailing her as i don't have a clue when ET will be. Is today last pill day. It says 1 day left on your ticker does that mean today or tomorrow??? jigging for your AF to come soon. x x

carolyn- Ah hun...hate to think of you on they way to work with tears about your eggies. x x ((( hugs))) but it's all part of the grieving process. As you say focus on the positives help ( but you still gotta greive and let out the loss too). One of the main things i am holding onto is that i will NOT be passing MS on to my child. How are you going to manage to read with all the work you are doing. Know from the other thread you were very late last night... hope weekend comes soon with books and you can chill x x

Poochie i put a photo of Broc on Photobucket x x Hope you are doing ok!

Babyblue & rebecca hope you are all doing well....

rebecca hope you log on wih some wonderful news soon about all your embies x x

Well AT LAST i am feeling better enough to walk the dog. still a bit wobbily but defo better than weekend. Just gotta rest up and i will be A ok soon. My friend (from London) is due up at the weekend as we are off to a wedding..so deffo want to be fit by then. She is staying from sat until wed so can't wait to spend loads of time with her. DH loves it as he get to hog the tv remote while we are out and about catching up with news and eachother x x anyway off out to sit in the sun after stivking out a washing. x x

Jen, hi, hope the headaches subside soon. Sorry to report I didn't suffer from them whilst on the meds. Having said that I didn't get any side effects during all our IVF cycles either, sorry. When we went to B the second time we had to change hotel too...we went to the Arenas as well. Maybe it's a good omen for you With regards to info about EC and fertilisation etc...we didn't find out the results until we met with the Dr just before ET. We knew when ET was being undertaken and when to fly out for ET but had to wait to see Dr face to face before they would tell us any more. Mind you, I didn't ask! I must have been in such a haze, but I'm sure that they wouldn't ask you to fly out for ET if there were no embies to transfer. Good luck with your scan tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Poochie, hi, you asked me about fresh/frozen embies. We didn't have any embies to freeze during our first cycle so we had to start from scratch again for our second. We did use frozen sperm though, so we didn't need to make another journey. So we had a fresh egg and frozen sperm. Second time around, again we didn't have embies left to freeze so Matthew will be an only child! IM have a policy/history of not over stimulating their donors, maybe so that you will have to pay again for the second try. I don't know...can't dwell on that too much now. Not long now to your appointment. I would be interested to hear about treatment/cycles in Madrid.

Carolyn, hello, you asked if we had the same donor for our second cycle. No, we had a 25 yr old the first time and a 28 year old the second. First cycle we transferred 2 embies, 2nd cycle we had 3 popped back in. During the 2nd 2ww I was absolutely convinced that it hadn't worked. I had AF cramps and bloating etc...normal symptoms of AF on her way. The hpt showed -ve on test day. I had already contacted ISIDIA in Kiev to start treatment with them in September. Then I went for my bloods (on the same day) to confirm the hpt and two days later they came back positive. I'd even stopped my meds. Talk about a roller coaster!

Gill, hi, hope you OK. Funny you should mention eye colour. Matthew has beautiful brown eyes. Both DP and I have blue! If you look up on the internet, this can happen, but it is rare. I don't care If people say anything I just smile and say probably a recessive gene in the family. DP's Grandma had brown eyes.....who cares? A healthy baby is all that really matters. Will do an AF jig for you....

Jeni babes, hope you back to full strength. Not long now, the weeks are flying by. Come on AF do your thing!!

Rebecca, what a wonderful sister you have. Sending you a fertilisation fairy to cheer on those embies....